PENSACOLA, Fla. – In their final match of the 2009 South Region Crossover, the Saint Leo volleyball team swept the University of Puerto Rico – Rio Piedras 3-0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-23) at the University of West Florida on Saturday evening.

This was a match where the Lions (9-2) needed to be at the top of their game as UPR stayed with SLU throughout the first and third games. Saint Leo never hit below .200 in the match as they withstood a furious first-set rally by Puerto Rico (1-2) to set the tone in the match.

Game two was dominated by Saint Leo, but the Lions would need to fight from behind in the third set as UPR had as much as a three-point lead. After SLU rallied to gain the advantage, Puerto Rico would notch a final kill to bring the score to 24-23 in Saint Leo’s favor, and the Lions would close the sweep out with a no-doubter from the right arm of Danielle Bletso.

The Lions would have another tremendous performance from junior Kaitlin McKenna as her and Bruna Rocha teamed up to get 12 kills each. McKenna tapped off a tremendous weekend by hitting .450 for the match and adding three block assists.

Defensively, the Lions held their opponent to just .171 as they posted eight team blocks.

Senior setter Michelle Nogueras added 35 set-assists, 10 digs and a solo block to help guide the Lions to their ninth victory of the season.

Saint Leo will begin their first trek through the Sunshine State Conference as they will host Rollins on Wednesday night at the Bowman Center in the SSC opener. The Lions will also have their first ‘theme night’ of 2009 as they invite the Lion faithful to wear black to help them ‘Black Out the Tars.’ The match is set to get underway at 7:00 p.m.